Houston Rockets Are Starting To Lose Their Identity
After back-to-back wins over the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and a thrilling win in Boston over the Celtics, the Rockets were at a four-year high. Their reputation around the league was that of an elite defensive and tough-minded team.
Over the past week, however, that has started to change as the team is in the midst of their worst losing streak in the Ime Udoka Rockets era. After another tough loss, this time to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Houston has lost five games in a row.
The Rockets have now fallen to the fourth seed in the Western Conference and are only a game up on the rejuvenated Los Angeles Lakers. The elite defense and tough-minded play have been non-existent in the last several games.
Actually, since Jabari Smith went on the injury list with a broken hand in early January, the Rockets’ defense has steadily declined. Now, with the injury to Fred VanVleet, their defense has declined even more; before the calendar flipped to 2025, the Rockets were ranked second in defensive rating at 106.0 and third in points per game allowed.
Since the start of 2025, they have been ranked No. 13 in points allowed at 112.9, 19th in defensive rating, and 26th in opponents’ field goal percentage. A lot has been made about the Rocket’s late-game struggle on offense, but their calling card is elite defense, and it has been almost non-existent for almost 20 games.
Their reputation as a tough and gritty team has also taken a hit the last several games. Teams have started to match the Rockets’ physicality and in the last five games the Rockets have not showed the same fight on both sides of the ball.
Ime Udoka also has noticed the drop off when it comes to the Rockets toughness and physicality. In last night’s press conference Udoka talked about what he saw from the Rockets in their latest loss.
In Ime Udoka’s first season, when he was trying to establish a different culture for the Rockets, he mentioned several times how they were playing soft. This season, it has not come up as much, but Udoka has recently mentioned the Rockets’ lack of toughness more frequently in the last several games.
The Rockets are falling down the standings and will need to turn it around quickly, or they may be on the outside looking in regarding home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Every team in front and behind them is currently on a winning streak.
For Houston, Saturday does not get any easier as they travel to Dallas to take on a motivated Mavericks team.
